Atlanta and Albany nabbed a combined nearly $2 million in federal environmental grants meant to clean up contaminated areas, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency announced Tuesday.
A chunk of that federal funding will help spruce up sections of the Atlanta Beltline trail currently under construction near old railways to the south along the I-75/85 interstate corridor, Atlanta officials said in a news conference.
Another portion of the funding is earmarked for environmental clean-up work in downtown Albany at the new site of the Albany Museum of Art. Albany will also receive $800,000 for the city’s revolving loan fund for environmental projects.
The federal Brownfields Program gives funding for environmental remediation at sites across the U.S. that have been contaminated and may struggle to recover without a financial boost.
Four grants were awarded for the projects in Atlanta and Albany this year out of 15 grants that were sought by more than a dozen local government entities in Georgia.
Mary Walker, the Georgia-based EPA administrator, singled out the grant funding for Albany as a boost for the South Georgia city still struggling to recover from the recent coronavirus outbreak.
“We hope that these funds will play a timely role in the city’s broader recovery,” Walker said Tuesday.
Atlanta Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms also highlighted the city’s grants for the Beltline as a way to help spur more economic development around the trail.
“There really has been comprehensive leadership and thoughtfulness over how we can continue to move our cities forward,” Bottoms said.